


The Mess

by pinkevilbob



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Frumpkin (Critical Role) is an Emotional Support Animal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-06
Updated: 2019-06-21
Packaged: 2020-04-11 12:58:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 15,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19110124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinkevilbob/pseuds/pinkevilbob
Summary: Caleb Widogast is a hot mess. Jester Lavorre is a sweetheart and a master of chaos. Frumpkin is a service animal in training. Nott the Brave is an overprotective mom. Trent Ikithon is THE WORST.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So poyo was super helpful with 'Til the Tide Takes My Soul', so I asked them what would they like me to write and she requested this one. Also it's poyo's birthday next week, so happy early birthday to them.
> 
> Eventually I will share the name of this AU, but for now it's a spoiler, so I'll have to share the name of it later.

Art needs a lot of things. Time, practice, patience, inspiration for starters. This particular piece, Jester decided, needed buttons. Not that Jester had any buttons. Or really patience for that matter.

Jester had searched her room for buttons, but the only ones that she had were already on clothes. And she was not willing to sacrifice fashion for art. Being an artist hadn’t driven her completely mad yet. She texted her friends and neighbors, but no one texted her back. A scowl appeared on Jester's face. There was only one solution and that was to go to the store, but it was already 8 and the store was on the other side of town and she'd have to take the bus and hope that she'd get lucky and get there before the store closed.

Just as Jester grabbed her bag, her phone buzzed and Nott's name popped up. -jessi you can gut buttns from myplce. im nott hom so useplant ky. Use buttns in red bin nott greeen bin. calebs might b theree not sure. if calb there be nice too him- It took Jester a moment to translate the text, but she managed to understand that she was allowed to use the buttons red bin and that she could use the spare key in the pott next to Nott's front door. And that Caleb might be there.

Jester had heard all about the mysterious Caleb that lived with Nott and her husband. He was apparently a student at the college and a genius. Some scholarship student that struggled with living away from home by himself, so he lived with a professor and his family. Nott would brag about him almost as much as she did about her son and husband. But she would also warn that Caleb was very sensitive, and if Jester ever met him to be nice to him(as if Jester wouldn't be nice without being prompted. Though she might greet him with a well chosen prank).

She left her apartment and crossed the hall to Nott's place. It was weird that despite being neighbors Jester had never seen Caleb, but they probably just had opposite schedules. Jester knocked on the door, but there was was no answer so she grabbed the key from the plant. It wasn't the first time that Jester just went into Nott's place. Nott was okay with it unlike some of her other neighbors(it was cute how Fjord would scream in surprise whenever Jester stopped by).

Once inside, Jester started searching for Nott's button collection. She knew where Nott's wax and stamp collections were, but there was no signs of the red button tin. Jester stood in the middle of the floor with a pout. If she was Nott, where would she hide her buttons?

A door opened behind Jester and she spun around. Standing just outside the bathroom was a man wearing only a towel around his waist. His hair was sopping wet and in his arms was a small cat he was drying off, so he must've just came out of the shower. He startled backwards at the sight of Jester. "Who, who are you?" he asked with a noticeable Zemnian accent.

"Hi, I'm Jester. Are you Caleb?"

"Ja," he mumbled. "Caleb Widogast." He was nothing like Jester had pictured Caleb to look like. For one thing, Jester thought that Caleb was probably barely 18 and would be a slip of a thing. But the man in front of her was clearly in his thirties and older than Nott. He was super skinny, but he was about average height for a guy so he probably had around 6 inches on Jester. A rough beard hid his face and he tried to hide himself behind his cat.

Jester gave him her brightest smile. "Nott told me that I could come in and get some buttons."

"She didn't tell me about this," Caleb said trying to back away slowly.

"Oh, I just asked a couple of minutes ago, so she probably didn't have a chance to yet," JEster said. "Do you know where her red button tin is?"

Caleb nodded. "Ja. Above the microwave."

"Why would she put it above the microwave?"

"So it won't get confused for the green button tin or the red bottlecap tin," Caleb said. He finished drying his cat and it jumped onto the counter. It was closer to a kitten than a cat.

Jester nodded. It made perfect sense. "What's your cat's name?"

"His name is Frumpkin. He's nearly 7 months old now."

"Really? Oh, then he's close to the gangly all legs phase! That's the best part of kittenhood," Jester said.

Caleb nodded with almost a smile. "Ja. I've been looking forward to it too."

“You know, you shouldn’t leave your hair wet like that. That’s how you catch a cold,” Jester said.

“I’m fine. I just don’t like blow dryers.”

Jester rolled her eyes. “You don’t have to use a hair dryer. They’re not good for your hair anyways. You should towel dry it and then wrap it in a towel.”

“I don’t know how,” he said and it sounded like a painful admission.

“I’ll do it for you then. I’m really good with hair.” Jester grinned with pride. “The towels are in the bathroom right?”

“Ja, but you don’t have to-”

Jester was already in the bathroom going through the towels. “I want to do it. My roommate never lets me play with her hair.” She came back out with a couple of towels. “One of these should be the right size. Now sit down.”

Caleb sat stiffly at the kitchen table with Frumpkin on his lap. “I don’t have a say in this do I?”

“Well, technically, you have a say, but it’s better than getting sick,” Jester said.

Caleb sighed. “Let’s get this over with.”

Jester started to pat out the excess water from his hair and then stopped. Caleb’s hair was full of snarls and tangles. It looked like he hadn’t combed it in months. “When was the last time you brushed your hair?” she asked. He sat there in an embarrassing silence. “Stay here. This will take more than a brush.” She went back to her apartment to grab her entire hair care basket and returned as quick as she could. Part of her worried that Caleb would slink away while she was grabbing her supplies.

But he was still there at the table when she returned. Caleb stared at the bucket. “Do you really need all of that?”

“Well, you’ll probably not need the dry shampoo or the mousse. The rest of this though? Probably,” Jester said. “Now sit back and let me do my work.” Caleb closed his eyes with a wince. “I’m not going to hurt you Caleb, and if I pull your hair, I want you to tell me.”

“Okay,” Caleb said still sounding tense.

Jester shook her head and went to work carefully pulling apart the first tangle and brushing the lock out smooth before patting it dry.

“Oh,” Caleb said.

“Oh?” Jester asked.

Caleb tilted his back to look at her. “It feels good.”

Jester smirked back at him. “See, I’m not going to hurt you. Now let me take care of the rest of it.

* * *

 

Nott returned to the apartment only to find the door was unlocked. She had invited Jester over to get some buttons, but usually Jester was good about locking the door after she left. And Caleb never left the door unlocked even when he was in the front room.

“What’s the matter, honey?” Yeza asked behind her.

“Nothing,” Nott said frowning at the door. “I just want to check something first. You stay here with Luc.” Carefully, Nott crept into the apartment keeping her eyes open for anything out of place. She froze when she saw what was going on in the kitchen.

Caleb sat patiently at the table wearing only a towel as Jester was braiding his hair in what looked like a complicated plait. It was the most relaxed Nott had ever seen Caleb. The ever present tension in his shoulders were completely gone.

Nott snuck back out of the apartment. “On second thought, I’m craving ice cream.”

Yeza gave her an odd look.

“I’ll explain it later,” Nott whispered. There was no way she was going to interrupt Caleb the first time he’s made a friend. Maybe with a little bit of luck, this would be a turning point for him.


	2. Chapter 2

Caleb held Frumpkin carefully in his arms. Nott had told him that she, Yeza, and Luc had to leave for a wedding, but that didn’t mean that he felt anymore comfortable being alone in the apartment. Part of him debating just sleeping outside, but he couldn’t do that to Frumpkin.

The Brenattos had left in the morning, and it didn’t really hit Caleb how gone they were until that evening. And then all at once the feeling of being alone hit him. He locked all the doors and double checked them over and over and over and over and over again. Focusing on his homework was just not an option.

A knock came from the front door, and Caleb nearly jumped a foot in the air. Frumpkin mreoowed in annoyance at Caleb. “Sorry,” Caleb mumbled. He checked the peephole at the door and Jester was standing there. “What is she doing here?” he asked Frumpkin. Caleb liked Jester, but other than the time with the buttons, she only came over while Nott was there.

Caleb’s phone jingled that it had a text from Nott. -cleb o nvited jester ovr for movie night and frgot bout weding. Keeep her conpany ples- After deciphering that Nott had invited Jester to come over to watch movies and forgot that she was going to be out of town, Caleb sighed and opened the door. “Nott’s not here.”

“She’s not? But she said that we were going to watch Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries tonight,” Jester said with a hint of the pout.

“She forgot that she had to go to a wedding today. Nott will be back tomorrow though,” Caleb said.

Jester’s phone buzzed. “Oh, it’s Nott.” She carefully read the text. “Can I watch a movie with you?”

“I’m not really one for murder mysteries,” Caleb said. “They make Frumpkin uncomfortable.”

“We could watch something else since mysteries make Frumpkin uncomfortable.” Jester scratched Frumpkin behind his ear.

“Frumpkin likes documentaries,” Caleb said.

Jester looked up with a smile. “Has he seen the one on cat shows yet? I think he’d like it.”

Caleb shook his head. “No. Frumpkin doesn’t have a lot of time to watch tv.”

“Oh? Why’s he so busy?”

“He’s helping me with my studies,” Caleb said.

Jester scratched Frumpkin under the chin. “You do, Frumpkin? You’re such a smart boy.”

“He is,” Caleb agreed. “Frumpkin makes sure that I’m focused and not interrupted.”

“Frumpkin, you’re amazing you know that right?”

Caleb smiled down at his cat. “I hope he does.” Frumpkin let out a loud low purr.

“See, he totally knows.” Jester continued scratching Frumpkin’s chin. “So can Frumpkin make room in his busy schedule to watch a movie with me?”

Caleb frowned. He didn’t like the idea of giving up Frumpkin even for just a few hoursm and he was a little disappointed that Jester hadn’t invited him to watch a movie with her. But he didn’t want to disappoint Jester. “Oh, um, I suppose you two can watch a movie together. I’ll just work on my homework in my room.”

“Caleb? Don’t you want to watch it with us?” Jester asked.

“I’m invited?”

Jester giggled. “Of course you are. It wouldn’t be fun without you.”

“Ja. Okay then,” Caleb said. He could feel a blush start to creep over his cheeks, but he ignored it. It wasn’t in him to feel like that anymore, Caleb reminded himself. “Is it okay if I bring out my homework to work on?”

“Sure.” But Jester looked almost disappointed.

Caleb frowned. “Are you sure? I can leave it in my room.” He was falling behind schedule, but seeing Jester look even slightly sad was hard for him to bear.

“No. Really, Caleb it’s fine. I get that your studies are important,” Jester said.

“Danke,” Caleb said. “I’ve got an essay due in organic chemistry next week.”

“What’s it on?”

Caleb made a face. “The use of alkane derivatives of steroids as biomarkers.”

“I understood maybe three words of that sentence. You don’t like it much I’m guessing?” Jester asked leaning in closer.

“Not really. Despite majoring in chemistry, I’ve never really had much of a talent for organic chemistry,” Caleb said.

“Can you just pretend it’s a subject you like, then? That’s what I do on papers for classes I don’t like,” Jester said.

Caleb frowned at this. “I don’t think that would work.”

“Just pretend that it’s just normal chemistry.”

“It really doesn’t work like that,” Caleb said. “There are major fundamental differences.”

“Could you write it like you’re explaining it to a normal chemistry person?” Jester asked.

Caleb rubbed his chin. “I guess that could work.”

“It’s that or make up a bunch of junk,” Jester said. “That’s what I do.”

“I’m pretty sure I’ve done that too many times to get away with that with his professor,” Caleb said.

“That sucks. Still want to watch the cat show doc with me?” Jester asked. The smile on her face was just pleading enough to make Caleb melt a little.

Caleb nodded. “Ja. I think Frumpkin will enjoy it very much.”

* * *

 

Jester fell asleep halfway through the documentary. Caleb was very aware of this fact as she had fallen asleep pressed up against him. He tried to ignore her, but he was finding it considerably difficult. And he couldn’t just move or push her away. That would be like moving Frumpkin off of his lap, and Caleb didn’t have it in him.

The documentary ended and Netflix automatically started playing a show about dogs. Caleb couldn’t help but feel a little bit betrayed. “Jester” he whispered. “Jester, the movie’s over.”

Jester mumbled, stretched and then settled back into Caleb.

“Frumpkin,” Caleb whispered, “help me.”

Frumpkin sauntered over to Jester and licked her nose.

“Frumpkin,” Jester said just barely awake. “Frumpkin, you’re so nice and cute. You’re nearly as nice and cute as your owner.”

Caleb turned beet red. She couldn’t have meant it. There was no way she actually meant it.

“It’s a good thing that you smell better than him though.” Okay, that she meant. “You take good care of Caleb.” Jester snuggled into Caleb more and fell back asleep.

Caleb stared down at her. He had no clue what any of this could mean. If he took it at face value, it meant that Jester liked him, but Caleb knew himself too well to think that anyone would actually like him. So Jester must’ve been confusing him for someone else.

Ever so gently and carefully, Caleb set a pillow under Jester’s head and slipped away. It was better this way.

* * *

 

Jester woke up to being shaken roughly. Groggily, she opened an eye to see Caleb over her still shaking her shoulder. A look of panic covered his face. “Caleb? What’s the matter?”

“Frumpkin’s sick,” Caleb said. He paced the floor. “I don’t know what happened. He’s sick.”

Jester rested a hand on Caleb’s arm.”What’s going on?”

“He’s puking. Twice in an hour. That’s not normal. I don’t know what to do.” Caleb shook as he looked at Jester and she’d rarely seen a more pathetic sight.

“Is your vet open?”

“In 27 minutes,” Caleb said. “They’re not open yet.”

Jester got up from the couch with a stretch. It hadn’t even entered her mind until then to wonder where she was, but she must have fallen asleep while watching the documentary. “We’ll call anyways. See if they’ll answer to take appointments. Beau’s got a car. We can beg her for a ride.”

“Beau?” Caleb said as he picked up Frumpkin. The cat mewed weakly.

“My roommate. She’s super cool.” Jester grabbed her bag. “Do you need me to call the vet?”

Caleb looked at her like she had given him the moon. “Would you?”

Jester smiled gently at him. “Sure.” She called the number Caleb gave her, but it went straight to voicemail. “There’s an emergency care vet on the northside of town. We can take Frumpkin there.”

Caleb nodded numbly.

“Frumpkin’s going to be okay, Caleb,” Jester said.

“I can’t lose him,” Caleb said. “I can’t.”

Jester put a hand on Caleb’s shoulder. “I know. We’ll get him to the vet.”

Caleb hung back as Jester managed to bribe Beau into getting out of bed before 8 AM on a Saturday. “You owe me. Big time,” Beau said as she pulled on a cleanish shirt.

“I know,” Jester said. “I wouldn’t asked if it wasn’t an emergency. Besides you said you wanted to meet the mysterious Caleb.”

“Yeah, but I wanted it to be during daytime hours and just because the sun’s up doesn’t make it day,” Beau grumbled. She stared at Caleb once she got to the hall.

“This is Caleb,” Jester said. “He’s super shy, but nice.”

Beau pulled Jester back and whispered in her ear. “You didn’t tell me he was the library hobo.”

“Library hobo?” This was the first time she had ever heard anyone call Caleb that.

“Yeah. He used to hide out in the library all the time and would take books without checking them out properly, but the university refused to do anything about him,” Beau said.

“Why would they do that?” Jester asked.

Beau shrugged. “No clue. But he must be the Brenatto’s problem now.”

“He’s not a problem,” Jester hissed.

Beau just pointed at Caleb who was nearly in tears as he held onto Frumpkin.

“He’s … just a little sensitive,” Jester said. “Caleb’s not a bad guy.”

“He’s just a whole lot of weird then. Alright Caleb!” Beau called out making Caleb jump. He was very jumpy, so Jester couldn’t entirely get annoyed with Beau for that. “Let’s roll out.”

Caleb was silent the whole ride to the emergency vet. Beau turned up her radio to drown out the quiet. Jester kept turning back to look at Caleb. He kept his head down close to Frumpkin’s.

Finally they got to the vet. “You two are on your own. I don’t do hospitals even if they’re for animals,” Beau said as she dropped them off.

Caleb shook like a leaf in front of the emergency vet. Jester squeezed his shoulder. “It’s going to be okay. They’ll take good care of Frumpkin.”

Jester ended up having to fill out the paperwork for Caleb. He was so nervous he couldn’t hold his pen steady. And then all they could do was wait.

“Sooooo,” Jester said filling in the silence, “how long have you had Frumpkin?”

“Close to six months,” Caleb said. “5 months and 27 days. He was so tiny when I found him I had to feed him with a bottle. I can’t lose him.”

Jester nodded. “I know. I think he knows that too. I’m sure he knows how much you love him.”

Frumpkin licked Caleb’s hand. “I, I was in a bad place before I found him.”

“Where did you find him?”

“Outside. It was raining,” Caleb said. “There was a meowing and I found him. Kinda like how Nott found me.”

“Like Nott found you?” Jester had just figured that there was just some kind of placement program at the university or something.

Caleb looked away. “I started college when I was much younger. And then I got sick. … in the head ... and I had to stay in the hospital for a long time. When I was released, I went back to school and then Nott found me.”

“She’s very nice,” Jester said feeling like she had to say something, but nothing else felt right to say at the moment.

“Ja, she is. So is Yeza. They’re more than I deserve.”

“I don’t think it works like that,” Jester said. “Like I don’t think we get to have friends and stuff just because we deserve them. I think it’s more because we need them than anything else.”

Caleb stared at her for a moment, but she couldn’t read his expression but she felt a sorrow from it. “It’s more a need? Well, I hope you have all the friends you need and more.”

“I have a ton of friends, but there’s always room for more you know,” Jester said. “And I hope you get all the friends you need too.”

Just then a nurse called for Frumpkin. “Come with me?” Caleb asked. There was a pained sound in his voice.

“Of course,” Jester said.

* * *

 

“See,” Jester said, “there was nothing to worry about.”

The vet had declared that Frumpkin just had an upset stomach from eating too rich of table scraps, but that it was a good thing that Caleb brought Frumpkin in just in case. She did prescribe some pepto-bismol for Frumpkin and to keep an eye on him while eating.

Relief filled Caleb as they left the vet’s office. “Ja. Thank you, Jester. I couldn’t have done this without you.”

“No problem, Caleb. That’s what friends are for,” Jester said.

He froze. She couldn’t really think that they were friends. Jester deserved better than to put up with him. Caleb looked down at Frumpkin and then relaxed. It wasn’t Caleb she was friends with but Frumpkin. That made sense. Everyone should be friends with Frumpkin. No one in their right mind would be friends with Caleb. But he had to make sure that Jester knew better than to be his friend. “When she gets back, you should talk to Nott and ask her how she met me.”

Jester seemed confused but she nodded anyways. “Ok. Is it a story she tells better than you?”

“I believe so.” Caleb didn’t have it in him to tell her just how terrible he was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right, so, I probably owe you guys an apology for how angsty this chapter got. The plot is picking up now so it's probably not going to get much fluffier from here.
> 
> I hope you guys liked it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's Poyo's birthday! Hap Birth!

Caleb was hiding when the Brenattos got home. That wasn’t unusual for him though. What was unusual was that he texted Nott once she got in. -You have my permission.- He didn’t reply to her after that.

Nott tried knocking on Caleb’s door, but he didn’t reply which wasn’t surprising. Getting an answer from Caleb sometimes was tricky. A silence often hung over him. So Nott just went about settling back into being home again.

A knock sounded from the front door as Nott settled Luc into his bed, but Yeza took care of it as Nott kissed Luc goodnight. “Sleep well, my darling,” she whispered as she pressed a kiss onto Luc’s forehead. Nott crept out of the room and found Jester at the front door talking to Yeza.

“How was the movie night?” Nott asked Jester.

“I kinda fell asleep during it and then Frumpkin got sick,” Jester said.

Nott turned pale. Frumpkin was Caleb’s lifeline. Who knew what Caleb would do if something happened to Frumpkin. “Oh no.”

“Frumpkin’s okay though. Just an upset stomach,” Jester said. “But Caleb said I should ask you about how you met. He said that you found him?”

“That’s a long story,” Yeza said. “I’ll get the coco started.”

Nott bit her lip. It didn’t feel like her story to tell, and Caleb wasn’t talking that day. She checked her phone in case Caleb was replying now and noticed his message from earlier. -You have my permission.- There was nothing else that he could be talking about. With a sigh, Nott started at the beginning. “I was throwing cans at Professor DeRogna’s office.”

* * *

 

~Eight Months Earlier~

It was a fact that Vess DeRogna was the worst. Or at least Nott thought so. Professor DeRogna had once again chewed Yeza in front of his class completely humiliating him. Yeza, of course, told Nott to not worry about it, but he did not deserve to be treated that way. So, Nott was out at 2 AM throwing empty beer cans at Vess DeRogna’s office window. It wasn’t enough to cause any damage or anything, but it made Nott feel better.

Nott was about to throw another can when she heard something in the bushes. Probably just a raccoon looking for a handout. Squaring back her shoulders, Nott snarled at the bush to scare the raccoon away only to discover that it wasn’t a raccoon but a man. Taken aback Nott stared at him. “What are you doing here?”

He stared back at her with wide eyes like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car. And, of course, that was when campus security showed up.

* * *

 

“Nott, this is the third time I’ve caught you throwing cans at offices,” Bryce said. They rubbed the bridge of their nose with a sigh. “You really have to stop doing this.”

“Yes, I’ve been trying to work on not getting caught, but I just need a bit more practice,” Nott said. She and the man in the bushes had been brought into the security office for probably just a stern warning.

Bryce groaned. “That’s not what I meant and you know it.”

“Professor DeRogna was at it again. Yelling at Yeza for no good reason. This time in front of his class,” Nott said.

“There’s appropriate methods of addressing that. You can make a formal complaint.”

Nott frowned. “Not that anyone listen.” Yeza wasn’t the only one who had problems with Professor DeRogna, but since she had tenure, she could get away with whatever she wanted. “So can I go now?”

Bryce shook their head. “I’m not going to just let you go. I know the last time I let you when just went back to DeRogna’s office and threw more cans. I’m calling your husband.”

“You can’t! He needs his sleep,” Nott added. She didn’t want to have Yeza deal with her screw ups.

“You should have thought of that before you went out tonight. I’m sorry, Nott, but I can’t just let you get away with this. Just be glad I’m not telling Professor DeRogna about this,” Bryce said and Nott cringed at the thought. Bryce left the room.

Nott turned to her fellow inmate. “So, what were you doing out there?”

The man kept staring forward like Nott had said nothing to him. He was pale, thin as a rail, and his hair was filthy and matted. There was a general air of offness to him.

“Are you deaf or something?” Nott asked and he shook his head the tiniest amount. “So you can hear me. What’s your name? I’m Veth, but everyone calls me Nott.”

She didn’t really expect a response, but after a minute he spoke. “Caleb Widogast.”

Nott had to hold back her surprise at him actually speaking. “So what were you doing out there, Caleb Widogast?”

“Sleeping,” Caleb said. He never looked at her instead just staring forward.

And Nott's heart couldn't help but break for him a little bit. "Oh. There's better places than outside to sleep you know. There's a shelter nearby."

Caleb kept staring forward.

Bryce returned to the room. "Yeza will be here in a little bit. And as for you Mr. Widogast," Bryce sighed, "maybe this time you'll go to your dorm."

Caleb shook his head again the tiniest amount.

"He has a dorm room?" Nott asked.

"Yes, but he keeps insisting on sleeping outside," Bryce said. “At this point, I don't even know why we bring him in at this point. We keep writing him up, escort him to his room, and he refuses to go in it. The university won't even let us do anything about it."

"Why?" Nott asked.

Bryce shrugged. "No idea, but apparently he has a major scholarship here and is allowed to do whatever he wants." Which was sleep outside.

Nott frowned at this news. Caleb acted like he didn't hear any of this, but Nott didn't believe that. "Hmmm." She kept quiet the rest of her wait coming up with ideas and plans and dismissing them.

Finally, Yeza came in still in his pajamas. He was yawning but seemed alert. "Are you okay?" Yeza asked.

"I'm fine," Nott said embarrassed. She should've known better than to go out when she was mad and throw cans again. But Yeza deserved a lot more respect than he was given.

"That's good," Yeza said with a soft smile. He wasn't even angry. Nott never knew what she did to deserve him. Yeza glanced at Caleb. "Oh, Caleb? You get caught throwing cans too?"

"No," Caleb said.

Nott looked back and forth between the two. "You know him?"

Yeza nodded. "He's in my Monday and Wednesday 4 PM class." He leaned over and whispered in Nott's ear. "Caleb's a ... consistent student, but I worry about him sometimes."

That made up Nott's mind. "Do you have to keep Caleb any longer?" Nott asked Bryce.

They shook their head. "Not really. Just need to have a free moment to take him to his dorm."

"The guest room's free," Nott said. "If you don't mind Yeza?"

Yeza stared at Nott for a moment and then grinned a little. "Not at all."

Nott turned to Caleb. "You can stay with us. We're not too far from campus and it's probably a lot quieter than a college dorm and cleaner than sleeping outside. What do you say, Caleb?"

For the first time he looked at her. And that confirmed it. Nott was going to do whatever she could for him. "Okay."

* * *

  
~Five Months and 27 Days Earlier~

Life with Caleb was not what Nott had been expecting. She wasn’t sure what to expect, but even with that she felt in over her head. Caleb was completely silent unless asked a direct question, and even then it wasn't unusual for him to stay quiet. He seemed afraid of the bathtub and would barely use the shower, but he would let Nott wash his clothes. They had gathered his things from his dorm room, but he refused to set foot in there. And convincing him to eat was a challenge as well.

But he was kind to Luc and never gave the boy any trouble and would let Luc use him as a jungle gym. Occasionally, Luc could even get Caleb to read to him.

Caleb was also uncannily punctual. He would always leave at the same time each day and return at the same time each afternoon. The only time Caleb hadn't left exactly at 9:17 was when some neighbors were loud in the hallway. Instead, Caleb just stood at the door waiting for them to leave. Nott couldn't help but feel like she had let in a feral cat into their house and that maybe she had made a mistake. And then she would see Caleb asleep in the guest room and remember why she had let him in in the first place. She wasn't going to force him to sleep outside while she had a spare bed. It didn't make it any easier though.

Then one day Caleb was late coming home. Part of her wondered if he had decided that he'd rather stay outside than with them. Luc kept staring at the door waiting for Caleb to come in. "Come on, Luc," Nott said, "time for dinner."

"But Caleb's not here," Luc said pouting.

"He''l just have to have it later then," Yeza said. If he'd agreed to eat, Nott added mentally.

Luc frowned at this. "But we can't have dinner without Caleb. He's part of the family."

Nott paused. She hadn't realized just how attached to Caleb Luc had gotten. And with how worried she'd been, how attached Nott herself had gotten. "You're right. You two wait here," Nott said as she got her coat.

"Where are you going?" Yeza asked.

"To find Caleb." Nott had seen his schedule for classes, but they would have all ended hours ago. It was his day to see his therapist, but that was between classes. She didn't know where Caleb went to while he didn't have classes, but she would start on campus and decide where to go from there.

Nott opened the door to find Caleb standing there reaching for the knob. He was even more bedraggled looking than usual; his coat had a tear on the sleeve and leaves were in his hair. In his arms was the tiniest kitten Nott had ever seen. "His name is Frumpkin. I'm keeping him."

A thousand questions ran through her head, but Nott just nodded. “Okay, Caleb. Bring him in.”

It wasn’t until after Caleb had fed Frumpkin and made him a little nest in a shoe box that Nott had realized that Caleb had spoken to her without being asked a question.

* * *

 

~Present~

“They’ve been inseparable ever since,” Nott said. “Caleb even takes Frumpkin into the shower with him. Actually, the only way to get Caleb to take a shower is to tell him that Frumpkin needs one.”

JEster smiled but her heart wasn’t in it. Why did Caleb want her to know about how he was before Nott or Frumpkin? Maybe this was his way of explaining how important Frumpkin is? That this was his way of saying why Frumpkin needs to be protected and why Caleb loves him so much. If that was the case, then Jester was going to do everything she could to keep Caleb and his cat together. After all, it was what friends were for.


	4. Chapter 4

Jester was on the list of the three nicest things in Caleb’s life. Number one was Frumpkin, of course, but Nott and Jester tied for second. He didn't deserve any of them, but Nott knew exactly what she was getting into though Caleb would never blame her for getting rid of him. And he allowed himself to have Frumpkin since he saved Frumpkin, so he did do one good thing for Frumpkin. But Jester didn't deserve this.

And yet Caleb couldn't bring himself to push her away. True, it was Frumpkin that Jester was friends with and not Caleb, but Caleb didn't have to hang around when Jester was visiting Frumpkin. He could easily just give Jester his cat and go study, but instead Caleb would hang around and pretend that he was the one who was friends with Jester. That she actually liked him.

Jester could brighten any room and never complained once whenever Caleb would tell her all about his chemistry projects or the latest discoveries in the field. Instead, she would always look interested and attentive even when she admitted that she didn't have a clue what Caleb was talking about. And in turn she would tell him all about her sculptures and show them to Caleb.

"I could never do that," Caleb said.

"I couldn't imagine not making art," Jester said. "It's like I've got all these words trapped inside of me that I can't really say out loud or something, so my art says it for me."

Caleb gave it some thought. "It must be nice. I have trouble with words sometimes."

"You should make something then! Express yourself in art," Jester said excitedly.

"I wouldn't know what to make. I've got nothing important to say," Caleb said.

Jester shook her head. "You can't think like that. Everyone has something important in them even you. I mean it might just be that Frumpkin is the greatest cat ever, but that's something that people should know."

Caleb smiled despite himself. "I think that's already pretty obvious."

"But you can have some kind of lasting momument to him. Art can survive a lot longer than words. That's part of what I like about it. Anyone could know what it means."

"That must be nice."

Jester grinned and nodded. "It is. Oh, I can get you some clay! Nothing fancy but something you can squish and play with and make a little Frumpkin. I bet he'd love it."

"How about you make one of him for him?" Caleb suggested.

Jester pouted. "But you're his favorite person. It would mean a lot more coming from you."

"Do you really thik I'm his favorite?" Caleb asked. He couldn't really be anyone's favorite anything.

"With how close he keeps to you? There's no way he could like anyone more," Jester said.

A warm feeling came over Caleb. "Danke."

"Hey, it's the truth. If Frumpkin could talk he would tell you." Jester stretched. "So new semester starts pretty soon. Do you know your schedule yet?"

Caleb blanched he didn't like thinking about his upcoming classes. "Yes."

"Not a good one I take it?" Jester asked.

"It's not bad presay, but I have one of my old professors from before I got sick and I haven't seen him since then," Caleb said. "He was a bit of a mentor for me and part of why I chose to go here. I've always admired his work."

"Really? Then why are you so nervous?"

Caleb started to pet Frumpkin trying to keep steadying. "I don't want to disappoint him. I had dropped out of his class when I got sick." Caleb couldn't remember much of that semester it was a blur with a couple of exceptions.

“Oh,” Jester said softly. “Well, you’re better now. And you’ve got Frumpkin.”

Frumpkin mewed at his name. “Ja, I have Frumpkin.”

“So everything’s going to be fine.”

* * *

 

Caleb nervously stood by the door to Professor Ikithon’s classroom. There were nine minutes till the class started, and he didn’t want to go in until six minutes before class starts. Frumpkin had his leash on though he hadn’t left Caleb’s shoulders once that day. It had been years since Caleb had last seen Professor Ikithon and he just couldn't shake this feeling of apprehension. But he used to be close to Professor Ikithon. He remembered that much. The details were just missing.

A loud sneeze interrupted his thoughts. Caleb turned to see one of his neighbors standing near him. The man with the thick Port Damali drawl. Fjord. "You bring your cat to class?" Fjord asked. Jester was friends with Fjord and Caleb had seen them in the hall a couple of times and Jester had managed to convince Caleb to introduce himself to Fjord. Fjord seemed nice enough, but he was allergic to cats which was a major blow to him in Caleb's esteem.

"Ja, he helps me focus," Caleb said.

"Just sit on the other side of the classroom." Fjord sneezed again.

Caleb nodded. It seemed like a reasonable request to him. He didn't want to cause any trouble with Frumpkin. Finally it was six minutes to class and a reasonable time to enter the classroom. Fjord followed him and made sure to be on the exact opposite side of the class.

Proffessor Ikithon arrived two minutes before the class started. He sneered when he saw Frumpkin. "What is this doing here?"

"This is Frumpkin," Caleb said. "He helps me focus and stay calm. I, I was looking forward to having you again, Professor Ikithon."

"It has been a long time. It seems like the years have changed you for the worse."

Caleb winced. He should have realized that it was obvious to anyone with eyes that he was a complete screw up, especially compared to how he once was. "I-" But Caleb couldn't think of any explanation. There was none except for that he was sick and a failure.

"I will not tolerate any distractions in my classroom," Professor Ikithon said.

"He's quieter than a mouse and just stays in my lap. No one will see him or hear him." On cue, Frumpkin jumped down on to Caleb's lap and curled up small on it.

Professor Ikithon smirked. "But you will notice him and I will know that it is here and it will distract me."

"My therapist says that it's okay for me to have him as a service animal. That it's not that different from needing a seeing eye dog or a mobility pony. He makes up for what my brain's not able to make itself," Caleb said parroting what Dr. Trickfoot told him.

"That is just an excuse for weakness," Professor Ikithon said. "If you were actually trying, you wouldn't need it. Now, I refuse to allow any distractions in my classroom. Get rid of him."

Caleb froze and it felt like there was no oxygen in the room. "What?"

"Take that thing out of here."

Caleb held onto Frumpkin. "Sir, please. He won't be a distraction. He's been in other classes and hasn't caused any distractions."

"It's true," a tall, pale woman said. She had been in other classes with Caleb, but he didn't know her by name. "I've forgotten that he was there most of the time."

"Well, I won't. If you clearly won't take care of the problem, then I will simply have to take care of it myself." Professor Ikithon roughly grabbed Frumpkin by the middle and tossed him out of the classroom before slamming the door keeping him out.

It was like everything was in slow motion around Caleb. The blood drained from his face and he felt like he was going to be ill. Frumpkin meowed outside the door and Caleb could hear him clawing at it. Professor Ikithon started speaking, and Caleb was taken over by a wave of fear. It was drowning him and not a single word of Ikithon’s lecture made it through Caleb’s ears. Caleb could feel himself shaking and trembling, but it was like it wasn't his body and he had no control. And the whole time a smug smile was on Professor Ikithon's face.

* * *

 

Jester's first day of the new semester was going great. She had her favorite professor again and he agreed to be her advisor for her upcoming art show. The Traveler was very avante garde and never complained about Jester's style being too weird(his name really wasn't the Traveler, but no one could pronounce his real name so he just went by his nickname). And the rest of her classes went really good too. It was going to be her best semester yet, she just knew it.

As she was going back to her apartment, Jester noticed Fjord was also heading in the same direction. She ran to catch up to him and it wasn't until she caught up to him that she noticed the person next to him. They were hunched over themselves and looked like they were in pain or something. It took Jester a moment to realize that it was Caleb. He was clutching Frumpkin close to his chest and looked close to tears.

Tears were actually running down Fjord's face and his nose was dripping too. He sneezed loudly. "Jester, oh thank the Wildmother you're here. Can you take him back to Nott's place?"

"Sure, um did something happen?" Jester asked.

"Professor Ikithon declared his class was a cat free zone and I think he," Fjord pointed at Caleb, "broke. The professor just took his cat and yeeted him out of there. Honestly, having the cat in the class would've been less distracting than Caleb's panic attack."

Jester stomach sunk. "Cat-free? But Caleb needs Frumpkin."

"I kinda figured that out," Fjord said. "I'm allergic to cats and even I thought that it was a bit harsh. But Professor Ikithon has a reputation of being strict. Can you take Caleb back to the apartment? I really need to get away from this cat."

"Oh sure." Jester waved Fjord goodbye and turned to Caleb. He looked completely miserable and held to Frumpkin like he was his final lifeline. "How you doin' Caleb?"

Caleb didn't say anything or moved only staring straight forward.

"Want to go home?" Jester asked.

Caleb barely nodded, but at least it was something.

Slowly Jester guided Caleb back to their apartment complex. He didn't seem much better, but he was standing a little bit straighter. Jester got the key from the potted plant and let Caleb into Nott's place. Caleb just stood at the door until Jester led him in.

Nott was in the kitchen cooking and froze when she saw Caleb. "What happened?"

"Fjord says that Professor Ikithon literally threw Frumpkin out of the class room out of the class," Jester said.

"Caleb, is that true?" Nott asked.

Caleb nodded the slightest amount. "He's a weakness."

"No, he's not," Nott said. "You saved Frumpkin. This is how he pays you back, remember?"

Caleb didn't say anything and just stared at nothing shaking.

Nott swore loudly. "That bastard! That f@#&er! I'm going to kill him!"

"Who are you murdering this time?" Yeza asked walking in.

"Professor Ikithon. He won't let Caleb have Frumpkin," Jester said.

Yeza's face darkened. "Oh. I'll talk to him. He probably hasn't heard about Caleb. I'll go clear this all up."

Nott scowled. "It's not going to work. He's the same kind of bastard as Professor Derogna."

"He'll have to listen to reason," Yeza said. "But if that doesn’t work, maybe we can get Dr. Trickfoot to write a note for Caleb explaining the situation."

Nott looked like she didn't believe him, but she agreed anyways.

"Is there anything I can do?" Jester asked.

Nott smiled softly at her. "I think Caleb and Frumpkin could use a distraction. Could you watch a movie with them?"

"Sure!' Jester said, but she couldn't shake the feeling that she should be doing more.

* * *

 

Watching a movie with Caleb was usually a lot of fun. He had trouble focusing on the screen so they usually ended up just talking to each other about what was going on on the screen or in their lives. But that wasn't the case this time. Caleb was as motionless as a statue and never said a word. By the end of the film, he seemed just as stressed as he was when they started. Once the movie ended, he silently retreated to his room.

Yeza had returned from campus looking dejected just as Jester was about to leave. “I spoke with Professor Ikithon. Tried explaining the situation, but I guess I didn’t make it clear. He woudn’t budge on the no cats rule.”

“More like he doesn’t care,” Nott said. “I’m getting some cans.”

“Honey,” Yeza said softly but firmly.

Jester bit her lip. “You mentioned getting a note from his therapist. That should work right?”

“He’s not that unreasonable, so it should. Caleb has an appointment with Dr. Trickfoot tomorrow, right?” Yeza asked.

“Right,” Nott said, “but in case that doesn’t work, I’m collecting cans.”

* * *

 

The next evening Jester got a text from Caleb. -Thank you for yesterday. I’m sorry that was such bad company.-

-its okay you were having a sick day. You feelin better today?- Jester texted back.

-Not really.-

Jester frowned at her phone. -is there anything i can do for you? Would hanging out make you feel bettere?-

-No, I’d just make for terrible company today. But, can I ask a favor of you?-

Jester nodded forgetting for a moment that Caleb couldn’t see her. -sure!!-

-Can you watch Frumpkin during my classes with Professor Ikithon?-

-but you got a doctor’s note? That should let frumpkin stay with you- A sinking sensation filled the pit of Jester’s stomach despite her optimistic text to Caleb.

-If he rejects it though, will you watch Frumpkin for me? You’re the one I trust Frumpkin with the most.-

Jester gasped and nearly dropped her phone. Caleb trusted her that much? Frumpkin was the most important thing in the world for Caleb. No one had really thought of Jester as being responsible or capable before. Part of her wanted to have the chance to prove that he was right in trusting her, but not at the cost of Caleb being separated from Frumpkin. -i’ll watch frumpkin for you but only if you really need me to-

-Thank you.-

* * *

 

Dread filled Jester the next day. Time would only tell if Caleb would be allowed to keep Frumpkin. Jester had a class that started at the same time as Caleb’s with Professor Ikithon, but it ended a half an hour before Caleb’s did. It was with the Traveler, so she should’ve been super focused and excited, but she spent the whole class distracted and watching the clock. She had asked if she could bring a cat to class. The Traveler just chuckled and seemed pleased with the idea while giving her permission.

Once class was over, Jester ran all the way to Professor Ikithon’s classroom. She was out of breath and nearly cried when she saw Frumpkin pawing at the door. Jester picked him up and hugged him. Frumpkin squirmed and cried in her arms. “I know Frumpkin, I’m not Caleb, but I’m his friend and that means I’m your friend too.” But Frumpkin kept squirming the whole time they waited for Caleb.

Caleb nearly collapsed to his knees when Jester gave him Frumpkin. He buried his face into Frumpkin’s side and mumbled the softest ‘thank you’ to Jester.

“What happened?” Jester asked.

“He gave Professor Ikithon his doctor’s note, and Ikithon tore it up in front of the entire class,” Fjord said. “I took notes for Caleb, though. I’ll send you a copy of them later,” Fjord said to Caleb, but he wasn’t listening. All of Caleb’s attention was focused on Frumpkin.

An anger swelled in Jester. One that she never knew she was capable of. There was one thing that she was certain of though; Professor Ikithon was going to pay for this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I can share the name of this AU now. It's the 'Ruining a Man's Career Over a Cat' AU. Though honestly the M9 would totally ruin lives for Frumpkin's sake.
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and hate Ikithon as much as I do for what he did in this one.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right so I raised the rating because of pranking shenanigans and because Caleb's backstory is a bit intense. That's right guys, we're getting to Caleb's backstory. I hope you like it.

Caleb could feel himself falling apart. It was just an hour and a half twice a week without Frumpkin. A simple thing that anyone else could manage, but not him. By the time his class was over, all he could think of was going back to Frumpkin. And once he was back to Frumpkin, Caleb thought he would just go back to normal, but no, he was still trapped in his head and full of fear.

Frumpkin deserved better than him. Sometimes Caleb would try to convince himself to just let Jester keep Frumpkin, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He was too selfish. And despite that Frumpkin would still purr in Caleb’s arms.

Jester was another thing that Caleb did not deserve. She was so bright and cheerful that even on his darkest days he could feel her warmth. But he couldn’t show it. Caleb felt like he was buried in cotton unable to move or speak. Everything was just reactions. He hated it, but he couldn’t breakthrough it.

And yet Jester stayed there was him. Despite everything she remained by his side and kept telling him silly jokes and smiling at him. But those smiles lost their shine. That was Caleb felt the worst about. He had hoped that Jester was smart enough to realize that she was too good for this and just leave Caleb alone, but she didn’t. Jester was the purest thing Caleb had ever met. She wasn’t pure good or even pure in the way most people meant it, but she was pure Jester and that was enough for Caleb.

* * *

 

Jester groaned face down in her notebook. They were nearly two weeks into the new semester and she still didn’t know what to do about Ikithon. She debated drawing a dick on his car, but that felt too small scale for what he had done.

Beau dropped her bag on the kitchen table next to Jester. “Hey, what’s up with Caleb? He’s acting all weird and junk.”

“Huh?” Jester never heard of Beau hanging out with Caleb.

“He’s gone full library hobo again and making my job hell,” Beau asked. “So what happened?”

Jester told Beau all about Professor Ikithon and what he did to Frumpkin. “So now Caleb’s all-”

“Library hobo,” Beau said. “Isn’t that sort of thing illegal?”

“I think so, but Caleb’s in no place to press charges and Ikithon’s got like tenure and stuff. Yeza and Nott’s been trying to get the university to do something, but there’s a lot of red tape. I’ve been trying to come up with the perfect prank, but I’ve got nothing.”

Beau nudged Jester’s shoulder. “I wouldn’t say you got nothing. You got me.”

“You mean you’ll help?” Jester asked.

“Hell yeah! I’m always ready to knock someone down a peg or ten,” Beau said.

Jester gave Beau a tight hug. “Thank you!”

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t go making a big deal about it,” Beau said with a smile. “I’ve got a reputation to uphold.”

Jester grinned. “Sure you do.”

* * *

 

It was a simple plan. Two teams acting in the middle of the night: Jester and Fjord at Ikithon’s parking spot and Beau and Nott at Ikithon’s office. Jester had managed to convince Fjord fairly easily to join her, Nott, and Beau in getting revenge on Ikithon.

Fjord’s and Jester’s task was simple. Just a little surprise for Professor Ikithon when he came to campus in the morning. They had finished fairly quickly and were waiting for Nott and Beau at their rendezvous point.

“I still don’t know where you got all those,” Fjord said.

“Oh? Are you looking to get some for yourself?” Jester asked waggling her eyebrows.

Fjord turned beet red and went silent.

Meanwhile, Beau and Nott were supposed to break into Professor Ikithon’s office and cover it with hundreds of post it notes that Jester drew little dicks on. And they were late. Jester tried to pretend that she wasn’t worried and that it wasn’t a big deal but every minute that went by Jester imagined a new way that Nott and Beau could’ve gotten caught.

Relief swept over Jester when Beau and Nott finally returned. But their bags that should’ve been empty were bulging even more than when they had started. “What happened?” Jester asked.

“There was a change in plans,” Beau said. “We’ll explain at the apartment.”

Curiosity filled Jester as they made their way back to the apartment complex. Nott would shush her every time Jester would try to ask insisting that they had to be quiet(which was rich since Nott was being louder than Jester was). “What happened?!” Jester asked the second they stepped inside of Jester’s apartment.

“Okay, so I know we were supposed to cover the office in dicks, but we uncovered something even better.” Nott said.

Jester frowned. She found that very hard to believe.

“Dirt,” Beau said as she opened up her backpack. On top of the colorful post-it note dicks was a bunch of folders and papers. “Turns out Professor Ikithon’s been pretty busy.”

Fjord picked up one and started reading it. “Wait, ‘with an appropriate donation, your child will be sure to be accepted’. He’s taking bribes to let rich kids into the university?”

“That’s just the tip of the iceberg,” Beau said. “We’re talking about everything from blackmail to hiding scandals to money laundering.”

“Seriously?”

Nott nodded. “Wait until you see the emails.” She pulled out a usb drive. “This goes pretty deep.”

“Wait, blackmail?” Jester’s eyes grew wide. “That’s how he’s getting away with bullying Caleb!”

“Most likely. I’m going to make copies of these and hand it over to both the cops and the university,” Beau said.

An idea hit Jester. “Can you make me a copy too?”

“Sure,” Beau said. “I’m keeping a copy for myself anyways.”

“Thanks, but why didn’t you cover the office with dicks? I worked really hard on those,” Jester said with a pout.

“And let Professor Ikithon know that someone was snooping in his office?” Beaus asked. “We’ll save those for a special occasion.”

Jester grinned. She already had the perfect occasion in mind.

* * *

 

Trent Ikithon’s morning was not going as planned. Traffic was terrible and he didn’t have time to get his morning coffee. All he wanted was to get to work and get his first class of the day over with. This was completely thrown out the window when he got to his parking space and discovered that it was filled with … adult toys. Close to a hundred of them.

Red filled his vision. He stomped out of his car and started kicking at the, ahem, adult toys clearing them out of the way. Most toppled away harmless and flopped around on the concrete. One though remained firmly where it was. Trent grabbed it, but it remained in place. He pulled and pulled at it, but it wouldn’t budge. Laughter from passing-by students stopped him and made the professor realize how it must look.

Trent let go of the ‘adult toy’ quickly and called maintenance to take care of it. Now he’d have to go find parking on campus which was frankly a herculean task. Professor Ikithon didn’t know who was responsible for desecrating his parking spot, but he would just have to take out his frustration on his classes. Fortunately, his favorite target would in his afternoon class that day. Who knew maybe this would be the day he could get Mr. ‘Widogast’ to cry.

* * *

 

Jester watched the video of Professor Ikithon discovering his parking spot for the eighth time in a row. She didn’t know who recorded it, but she was grateful for them. The prank went off even better than she had expected. Frumpkin batted at Jester’s phone. “No, this is not for kitties, Frumpy,” Jester said holding the phone away for Frumpkin.

The door opened cueing that the class was over. Hurriedly, Jester put her phone away. The rest of the class hurried out, but Caleb was moving slower than he used to. It was like it took his brain longer to respond to things than it used to. Fjord stopped by Jester for a moment. “Warning you. Today was real bad.”

“What do you mean?” Jester said.

“Ikithon had a crappy morning and decided to take it out on Caleb. I don’t blame Caleb for being afraid of him.”

“Caleb’s afraid of him?” Caleb hadn’t told her that, but he barely talks. Ocassionally he’d text her on good days thanking her for taking care of Frumpkin for him, but good days were becoming increasingly rare.

Fjord shrugged. “That’s what I reckon at least. Caleb shakes a lot around him at least. Can’t blame him. Ikithon had it out for him today.”

“Do you think it was our fault?”

“No clue,” Fjord said and then sneezed. “I gotta get goin’. See ya later, Jes.”

Jester waved him goodbye, but her heart wasn’t in it. She knew that Professor Ikithon was probably going to be pissed over the prank, but Jester didn’t think of the possibility of Caleb paying for it. After she made sure Frumpkin was ready for Caleb, she waited next to the door.

“Really though, I expected better from you, Bren,” Professor Ikithon said loudly. Jester poked her head around the corner to see who he was talking to, but Caleb was the only other person in the room.

“It’s Caleb Widogast,” Caleb said in a soft whisper.

Professor Ikithon snorted. “You and that silly new name of yours. Get going. I don’t know why I bother with you.”

Caleb looked like he was close to tears when he took Frumpkin and Jester’s heartbroke. She screwed up and there was nothing she could do to make it up to Caleb.

* * *

 

Jester spent the rest of the afternoon crying in her room. If she had given it any thought, she would have done the prank on a day that Caleb didn’t have class or maybe not at all. But she didn’t and Caleb got hurt all over again. How could Jester be so stupid?

“Hey, Jessie!” Beau called out as she entered the apartment. “I got the goods!”

Quickly, Jester wiped the tears off her face. “What goods?”

“Everything we got from Professor Ikithon’s office last night,” Beau said. She set a stack of papers on the kitchen table. “I emailed you a file of his emails and junk too. Some of it’s real messed up. Turns out the Professor effin’ crazy.”

“Yeah?”

Beau nodded. “I didn’t send you this one, but he’s got a research project in there that’s nightmare.”

“Can you send it to me anyways?” Jester asked.

Beau stared at Jester for a long moment. Jester held eye contact until Beau nodded. “I already sent you the rest so why not. I’ll email it to you in a little bit. Just be careful reading it. It’s effin’ sick.”

“Thanks Beau,” Jester said giving her roommate a hug.

“Do I even want to know what you have planned with all that?” Beau asked after wriggling out of Jester’s grip.

“It’s a surprise!” Jester just hoped that it was one that Caleb would like.

* * *

 

Jester went through and organized all the files and papers before even glancing at the last one Beau gave her. The file was called The Yellow Notebook and filled Jester with dread. She imagining all sorts of horrid things that could be in there, but she had to check what it was in case it gave her more to work with.

She clicked on the file and found it was full of pictures of the pages of a spiral bound notebook. Jester started on the first page. It was dated to close to 15 years ago.

“Hypothesis - Submerging an individual and their wounds in a solution will increase the speed of recovery.” Beneath that there was a bunch of chemicals listed that apparently made up the 5 different solutions Ikithon was testing. “Subject - 17 year old male, caucasian, 152 pounds, 5’ 9”, good health.” It was dry and boring, but Jester clicked on the next page and kept reading.

“Test 1 - A cut 2 centimeters in length was made on Subject’s arm. Subject was submerged in bath of Solution A. This experiment was conducted in the subject’s dorm room. Cuts of identical size were previously made on Subject and healing time was already noted.” A note was added to the entry later. “Healing time identical to the previous control test.”

The next four tests were all identical to the first one only with different solutions. Test six started the same, but then the subject was submerged in the solution each night for a week. All the notes were the same until the third day of the seventh test. “Subject has shown agitation and belligerence towards the solution submersion. Physical assistance was required to insure that the subject was properly submerged.” Jester’s stomach dropped. That sounded like a scientific way of saying holding the subject under water against his will. The rest of the tests had the same note of ‘assisting’ the subject.

“Test 8 - Day 3 - Side effects noted: Subject’s previously excellent memory has become increasingly faulty. Subject has extreme difficulty recalling events and conversations from the previous day. He has also shown difficulty regulating emotions. Events that previously garnered little reaction now cause intense reactions from Subject. Example: the fire alarm went off in the dorm building and Subject began sobbing.”

It was all so cold and clinical, and Jester just wanted to go back in time to give the poor subject a hug. The more she read the more she hated Professor Ikithon. Part of her wanted to stop reading like it would stop more terrible things happening to the subject, but there was no changing the past, so Jester kept reading.

All the entries were clear and easy to read with no mistakes except for one, Test 9 Day 4. Bren was written down first and had a slash through it followed by the correction of Subject. Jester froze, she knew that name. It was what Ikithon called Caleb. Realization filled Jester. Caleb was the subject. Her friend was the one put through all these cruel tests. “Oh, Caleb,” Jester whispered.

It explained so much. Why Caleb wouldn’t go into dorm rooms or baths and how he couldn’t remember the year before he was sick. The tests were probably even the reason why Caleb was sick in the first place. And it might even explain that mysterious scholarship Caleb had. Someone at the university must’ve known about this and was covering it up.

There was one page left and Jester was tempted to quit, but she had made it that far. She continued to the final entry. “Test 9, day 7. TEST CANCELLED. Subject’s parents found dead in house fire. Subject was unable to regulate emotions, was driven mad by own grief and was submitted to hospital psychiatric ward. Months of research wasted.”

Bile rose up in Jester’s throat. She tried to fight it back, but she ended up dry heaving into her wastebasket. Her mom had told her that evil people existed, but Jester didn’t realize just how terrible some people could be. Jester wanted to scream and cry and hit something, but none of those things would help Caleb. So instead she made a phone call. “Hello, Traveler? I need your help.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...so who wants to strangle Ikithon?


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, okay, I really hope you guys like this chapter. It took a lot of editing to get it to be presentable, but I think it should be a good one.

Life became busy for Jester, and Beau was the one who had to deal with it. After Jester’s call to the Traveler, she had to start preparing for an art show. It wasn’t going to be a very big show she said, but she had only two and a half months to prepare for it.

Beau stared at the hundreds of tiny statues drying on every surface of their apartment. “And where are we supposed to sit here?” There was a crunch under her shoe. “Or stand?”

Jester looked up from the diorama she was working on. “Oh. Um, maybe you could just go over to that hot goth girl’s house? You keep swooning over her.”

“Shut up. You can’t just take up the entire apartment with your art.” Beau turned away trying to hide her blush.

“Sorry, Beau. I just don’t have a lot of time to work on this with school and helping Caleb,” Jester said with a frown.

And here comes the guilt. “Look, I don’t want to be an a-hole about this, but ask next time you make our place an art studio.” Beau paused. “How is Caleb doing?” She already knew the answer to that question. The library has been finding Caleb hoarding books again.

“Not that good. Nott says he kinda won’t eat unless Frumpkin’s eating with him and he doesn’t really talk anymore.”

Beau swore. “That frickin’ sucks. Why doesn’t Caleb just drop the class?”

“He needs it to graduate,” Jester said. “But I kinda wish he’d drop it anyways.”

“This university is messed up.”

Jester laughed, but it wasn’t her usual light hearted giggle. It was harsh and dry. “You’re telling me. Beau?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you know how to hide a body?” Jester asked her head ducked down avoiding eye contact.

“No? Jester, should I worry about what you’ve got planned?” Beau asked.

Jester shook her head. “No, it’s just a joke. Nothing to worry about.”

Beau raised an eyebrow and shrugged. It was none of her business. “If you say so, but if you need to kill a bastard, I got your back.”

Jester chuckled and this time it was her proper laugh. “Okay, Beau. Thank you.”

“Hey, that’s what roommates are for, hiding bodies.”

* * *

 

The days were all blended together even if they were different from one another. They dragged and were heavy on Caleb. It felt like he could never breathe properly and was always on the verge of suffocating.

It was the 86th day of the semester and Caleb was surviving. That may have been a lie, but he was still living and not in a psych ward. Jester walked with him to Professor Ikithon’s classroom and Frumpkin was draped over Caleb’s shoulder. He stared at the classroom door as Jester gave his hand a squeeze. “Are you ready to give me Frumpkin?”

Caleb could hear his heartbeat thrumming in his ears as he thought about entering that class by himself again. And he wasn’t ready for it. He shook his head.

“Okay, I can wait til you’re ready,” Jester said with a kind smile. It was so easy for her. She probably didn’t even know just how good she was.

Frumpkin nuzzled the side of Caleb’s head. Caleb knew that he should return the favor of comfort by giving Frumpkin a scratch, but his limbs just felt so heavy. Time went by and Professor Ikithon entered the classroom completely ignoring Caleb. A cold wave of terror swept over Caleb and all he wanted to do was run.

Meanwhile Jester bristled with rage. “I’ll kill him,” she muttered. “I’m gonna kill him.”

Caleb wanted to take her hand and tell her that it was okay, but it wasn’t okay. The last thing Caleb wanted was for Jester to get involved in this mess. Nothing was going to be okay.

“Do you need me to go into the class with you?” Jester asked.

“No,” Caleb said. It was small and numb out loud but it felt like a forceful cannonball coming out of him. He didn’t want Ikithon anywhere near Jester.

Jester’s eyes widened a little bit. “Oh, okay Caleb. Do you want to go in now?”

“No.” He knew that he should go in, but he was just so tired and worn he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

“Alright, we can wait a few more minutes,” Jester said.

“No.”

“You … want to skip class?” Jester asked.

Caleb nodded.

Jester bit her lip but nodded. “Frumpkin prefers your company anyways. Let’s go.” She grabbed his hand and led him out of the building. “I’ll take you home.”

Caleb shook his head. He didn’t want her to miss her class for him.

"Will you be good for going home by yourself?" Jester asked.

Caleb started to nod, but he shook his head instead. He didn't feel ready to go by himself.

"Want to go to my class with me then?" Jester asked. "The Traveler is super cool and nice and I'm sure he'd like to meet you too."

There really wasn't anything else for Caleb to do so he nodded and followed Jester to her class. It was a small classroom with desks and not an artist studio like Caleb had expected. The class had already started and a man all in green with a lilting voice was speaking to the class. "Jester," he said turning to her, "I was wondering if you would be joining us today."

"Sorry, Travelr, running late. Is it okay if I have a guest with me today?" she asked.

Caleb ducked his head down as the Traveler looked him over. There seemed to be a permanent smile on the Traveler's face. "Is this the famous Caleb?"

"Uh huh," Jester said. The entire class turned to stare at Caleb making him want to disappear.

"He can take a seat in the back," The traveler said.

Caleb crouched in the back of the back of the class petting Frumpkin. The class was discussing some kind of art theory that meant absolutely nothing to Caleb, but Jester was absolutely fascinated by it and was leaning forward in her seat adding her opinion and talking animatedly about whatever theory they were discussing.

"What do you think Caleb?" the Traveler asked as Caleb was starting to zone out.

Caleb jolted up nervously not certain what to do. "Oh, Caleb doesn't' really talk," Jester said. "He's quiet like that." He nodded his cheeks turning red. Even if he did talk like a normal person, he didn't know enough about art to really say anything.

"Ah, then what do you think Jester?" the Traveler asked.

Jester continued the discussion with ease and went on about colors. Caleb could listen to her talk about that for hours even if it made no sense to him. He didn’t realize just how much he missed just spending time with Jester and listening to her. Most days he wasn't up to it, but skipping class seemed to if not replenish his inner battery kept it from getting completely used up.

The class ended and Jester went back to Caleb. "I hope you weren't too bored. It’s too bad I couldn't sit with you. But at least you had Frumpkin."

Caleb nodded and gave Frumpkin another pat. The cat purred in response.

"So will you introduce me to the incredible Caleb?" a lilting voice asked.

"Oh!" Jester straightened up. "Caleb this it the Traveler! He's basically the coolest professor on campus. And this is Caleb, he owns Frumpkin."

The Traveler smiled at Caleb with bright white teeth that almost but not quite edged on predatory. "A pleasure." He extended his hand towards Caleb.

Caleb nodded and shook his hand.

"Aren't much of a talker are you?"

Caleb shook his head.

"He's been sick lately," Jester said. "But he's getting better."

Caleb stared at her. Was he getting better? Some of the numbing fluff that swallowed him up felt less all encompassing.

Jester held on to Caleb's hand. "He's been a real inspiration for my art."

"I can see why. His bone structure is impeccable," The Traveler said examining Caleb.

Jester giggled. "Not like that. He's why I'm doing my art show."

The Traveler stood up a little taller. "Really? He's the one who-"

"Yeah," Jester said interrupting him.

"Well, I hope you get the results you are looking for," the Traveler said. "The show's next week. Are all your pieces done?"

Jester shook her head. "I have just a few pieces to perfect, but I'm real close to being done."

Caleb looked at her. He hadn't heard about her doing an art show, but he hadn't been listening a lot lately.

"Oh, Caleb didn't I tell you. I'm doing a big, well not big big, but for me a pretty big art show. You should totally come," Jester said before turning to the Traveler. "Have you invited the guest of honor?"

"Not yet, but the invitation needs to perfect. Something he can't turn down."

Jester squealed in excitement. "Thank you! I don't think he'd take an invitation from me. Well, I should let you get ready for your next class. Let's go, Caleb." She led him gently by the hand out of the classroom.

It was a nice day outside and Jester walked at a slow pace like she was walking a meandering pet, but maybe that was a good description for Caleb. "Today's a good day for you isn't it Caleb?"

Caleb nodded. He wasn't anywhere near Professor Ikithon which made it a great day for Caleb, but he knew that wasn't what Jester meant. Caleb's head was clearer than it had been in weeks.

"I'm glad. I was getting real worried about you," Jester said. "I was starting to think that you were out of good days, but you're not." She smiled brightly at him, and Caleb once again wondered how did he get so lucky as to know her.

They kept walking to the apartment complex. Jester led Caleb to Nott's apartment. "Here you go, Caleb."

He stared at her for a long quiet moment. "I wasn't bored." Jester's eyes grew wide. When was the last time he had spoken out loud to her more than just ‘no’? "At your class, it wasn't boring."

A grin broke out across Jester's face. "I'm glad. I've missed your voice, Caleb." She gave him a quick hug and then went to her own apartment.

Caleb stared after her. If he could’ve, he would've kept talking just for her, but as easily as the words came out, they got locked up in him again. But maybe she would think they were worth the wait.

* * *

 

Jester was full of nerves. It was the night of her art show opening, and she couldn't keep down the butterflies down in her stomach. Mentally, she kept going down a checklist making sure that there was nothing she had forgotten.

“Relax,” said the Traveler. “It’ll be fine. At this point, all you have to do is smile and explain things in the most pretentious way imaginable.” Jester giggled despite the nervous feeling in her stomach. "That's better."

"But what about the guest of honor?" Jester asked. "Are you sure he is coming?"

The Traveler smiled. "Of course, I have my ways. Now is your boy going to be here?"

"My boy? Wait, Caleb?!" Jester turned a bright shade of red. "We're not like that!"

"Oh that's a disappointment," the Traveler said.

Part of Jester agreed with him there, but she didn't want to put any pressure on Caleb and she had a feeling that he probably wasn't ready for that sort of thing. Maybe he'd never be, but she wasn't going to let that stop her from being friends. There were a lot of pretty people that she would've liked to kiss that she ended up just being friends with. "Caleb should be coming," Jester said. Nott said that she would bring him for Jester.

Caleb had completely stopped going to Professor Ikithon's class. It was going to ruin his grade, but his mental health was worth more than that. He was doing much better over the past week even though he remained quiet most of the time and still seemed on the verge of a nervous breakdown. But he'd smiled once at Frumpkin. Jester saw it and it was his first smile in months. The only thing that would make things better was if the police or the university finally did something about Professor Ikithon. Though, if the art show went right, he shouldn't be a problem anymore.

The Traveler looked at his watch. "Showtime," he said with a smile.

* * *

 

It was a good day for Trent Ikithon. His meetings went well, and he managed to get a student to have a panic attack. He prided himself on his strict policies and ability to weed out weak students. Just the week before, he had finally managed to get 'Mr. Widogast' to drop his course. And with Professor Ikithon's course being a mandatory one for graduation, it was just a matter of time before Bren finally leaves the university. Why the mess of a boy was allowed back in was a mystery to Trent.

And now Professor Ikithon had been invited to a highly prestigious event at the fine arts center on campus. He hadn't heard all the details about it, but it was a chance for him to get some more influence if he played his cards right. A smug smile rested on his face. A perfect end to a perfect week.

That smile quickly left his face when he got to the event. An art show of some student apparently, but that wasn't what bothered Trent. It was the placard announcing the title of the show; 'The Dickithon Collection'.

“Professor Ikithon!” a bright cheery voice sang out his name. The voice belonged to a short, chunky girl with blue hair. “I’m so glad you came to my art show. It wouldn’t be the same without you.” She smiled a bit too much.

“This is your doing?”Trent glared at the placard.

The girl nodded. "That's right I'm the artist Jester Lavorre." She did a mock curtsy. "I have to admit that I was worried that you weren't going to come. You were the muse and inspiration for this show and my art.”

Trent raised an eyebrow. He never had much to so with the art department. "Am I now?"

"That's right." The girl nodded with more energy than Trent cared to deal with. "Allow me to present to you my show." She took him by the arm and dragged him to the first piece.

Trent grounded his teeth as he presented to a bust of himself. A bust of himself made entirely of tiny male anatomy. "Juvenile."

"I know, I know. It’s super obvious, but I just couldn't get rid of the idea once I got it," the artist said. "I think I did a good job using the different colored dicks to capture your liver spots."

Tugging his arm away from the annoying artist, Trent brushed himself off. "I will not be mocked in this way. You will hear about this later."

"But, you haven't seen the rest of the show," the artist said. "I think you'll find it super interesting."

"I highly doubt that." He turned to leave and went pale at the sight of a familiar photograph. It was one that he had of a certain dean in a compromising position. Or at least that was what the original was. This was a recreation of it, but with statues of once again male anatomy. There were more photographs just like it of the different pictures he had taken over the years for blackmail. Trent looked back at the artist. A big sweet smile was pasted over her face.

"I thought you'd find this fascinating. I worked really hard on all this," the girl said.

A rage filled Trent. "What do you think you're doing?! Is this blackmail?"

"Oh no, that's what you've been doing. No, I'm just expressing myself through my art. And I've got a lot to say."

"What do you want from me?" Trent asked. "Money? A scholarship? Guaranteed straight As?"

The artist shook her head. "I'm not interested in any of those things. I just want to show you the rest of my work. Now this next one I call 'Bribery in Dick Major'."

It was a collage of letters in the shape of male anatomy(the girl had a sick obsession with it). There was nothing special about the letters at first. They were all plain white paper on the schools official letterhead. But getting closer he realized that it was actually his letterhead. Trent read one and horror grew in him. All the names including his own were blacked out, but they were all about the bribes he had taken to let undeserving rich brats into the school.

"A little plain, true, but not all art has to be big and flashy. Some statements need to be quieter I feel. The next piece is on a much smaller scale, but it’s interactive." The girl dragged him to a pedestal with what looked like an ant farm on it.

She shoved the ant farm into his hands. On closer inspection, it was full of loose sand and small objects like a tiny camera and yet another piece of male anatomy. Trent was getting really tired of those. "You have to find the items on the list,” the artist said.

"And why are you having me play with a child's game?" Ikithon asked. She gave him a list. It seemed harmless enough at first. A mascot costume, a horse, those sorts of things. But then he noticed that they got odder. A bathroom door, a noose, underwear. Trent's heart nearly stopped when he realized that each one of those things were part of a scandal that he helped covered. The only thing that he couldn't remember anything for was a cat.

"Can you find all of them?" the artist asked sweetly. "I have to admit that I made it pretty tricky, but I think you're probably pretty good at this sort of thing. After all, you're good at hiding things."

Trent was seething by this point. "Listen here, you little trollop. I have ways of making you regret this. Don't think that you can just get away with this."

"Get away with what? I'm just putting on a fun little art show. There's one last piece that you have to see," Jester said as she led him to the final pedestal. A cloth covered it hiding the piece from view. "This is a private one. Not for everyone's eyes, but I thought that you should see it."

She lifted up the cloth revealing what it was hiding. It was a bathtub in the style that the dorm rooms had on campus on a much smaller scale. The tub held water in it that had a peculiar sheen and smell to it. Floating in it was a torn up yellow spiral bound notebook. The pages with all water logged, but the cover was still legible and had his handwriting. At first, it meant nothing to Trent, just a weird piece of art, but then he noticed on the side of the bath a scrap of paper was plastered to it and it read 'Bren' with a line through it.

"How did you? What did you?" No one was to know about the Bren experiment. The only information he had on it was hidden in his office. There were no witnesses, and it wasn't like Bren was able to talk about it.

The smile that the artist wore the whole evening now had fangs to it. "Oh, I have my ways."

Trent stared at her. She was a monster. "You pay for this. Just you wait." Somehow she must've broke into his office. He started to leave, but a hand caught his arm.

"Oh, please do stay, Professor Ikithon," said a man all in green with a lilting voice. "The police aren't done searching your office yet and really, since you're going to have to wait for them anyways, why not have some nice hor devours?"

“The police?”

The man nodded. “Oh yes, they were really agreeable with helping Jester. Though, we’d thought they would’ve gotten the warrant for your office long before tonight’s show, but we’ll just consider this as a happy coincidence.”

Trent sputtered. “You could’ve easily have planted that evidence. You won’t be able to prove anything.”

“That’s what a court of law is for,” the man said.

“Don’t think you can get away with this so easily,” Trent snarled.

The artist gave him an innocent smile. “Well, technically, we already have. Turn around.”

Trent turned around to see several police officers approaching him.

“Mr. Ikithon, you’re under arrest,” an officer said. “Anything you say can and will be used against you.”

Handcuffs were rough slapped onto Trent’s wrists and he was led away from the art show. "You will hear from my lawyer," Trent shouted as he was dragged away. He looked away and his eyes locked on a familiar sight, Bren and his ridiculous cat. "You! I don't know how, but this is all your fault!"

Bren turned towards Trent, but a crowd appeared between them and Bren disappeared from sight.

* * *

 

Caleb was nervous all day about the art show. He had never been to that sort of thing before. Art was never really his thing, but if Jester wanted him there, then he'd be there. After Nott dropped him off at the fine art center, Caleb thought he heard Professor Ikithon and had the urge to run and hide, but when he turned Professor Ikithon wasn't there amongst the crowd. It must've been his imagination.

"Caleb!" Jester shouted. She was smiling at him and was in a beautiful dark purple dress.

"Hi. Am I underdressed?" Caleb was just in his normal clothes. He felt like he stuck out like a sore thumb next to Jester.

Jester shook her head. "You're not, but Frumpkin is."

"Oh, sorry?"

"Don't worry, I'll fix it." Jester pulled out a small bow tie and clipped it to the front of Frumpkin's harness. "There now he's all handsome."

Frumpkin pawed at the bow tie at first, but then he settled back down on Caleb's shoulder. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. Come on, I want to show you everything," Jester said and she softly took Caleb by the hand.

Caleb raised an eyebrow at the name of the art show, but Jester just went on about how she was struck by inspiration. A laugh made its way out of Caleb forcefully when he saw that dick bust of Ikithon.

"You like it?" Jester asked sounding a little nervous.

He nodded.

"Oh good. I have to admit even though this was technically for a grade, I mainly made this for you," Jester said.

"Why?" Caleb asked. It didn't make any sense that she would do anything for him. This must've took her hours, and he just took up her time having her watch Frumpkin.

"Cause you're my friend."

Caleb stared at her in surprise. "I am?"

"Well, yeah. At least I thought so," Jester said looking down. "I'm sorry if I read into things, but I just thought we were."

"I thought you were Frumpkin's friend," Caleb said. "No one would ever want to be my friend."

Jester leaned forward. "But I do want to be your friend. We have fun together."

"But I'm sick and my brain's a mess and I'm pathetic and weak and dumb for always needing a cat and-"

Jester grabbed both of Caleb's hands, and suddenly it felt like all there was in the room was her. And Frumpkin. "Caleb! Caleb, you're none of those things. I mean, yeah, you're sick and stuff, but you're not pathetic."

"I barely spoke to you in weeks," Caleb said weakly. "I'm a terrible friend and you don't deserve that."

"And you don't deserve to be alone, Caleb. Ikithon was the worse to you and kind of completely screwed you over," Jester said. "I don't blame you for being sick and hurt."

Caleb searched her face to see proof of a lie, but she was being sincere. "You don't?"

She shook her head. "No, I don't. I want to keep being friends with you, Caleb."

"You do?"

"Yeah I really do," Jester said. "And do you?"

Caleb nodded so hard he could feel his brain rattle. "I want nothing more than to be friends with you, Jester."

Jester giggled and smiled the purest smile Caleb had ever seen. "Then here's to being friends."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be the epilogue. I have to admit that I didn't expect this fic to be so long, but it was a fun one to write.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is the guys! The end of The Mess! I hope you'll enjoy it!

Epilogue

~Six Years Later~

Frumpkin loved his human very much. Caleb was a good human. He knew exactly where Frumpkin liked to be scritched and gave him tasty food. Sometimes Caleb was sad, and it was Frumpkin’s job to scare away the sadness. When he was a small cat, Frumpkin didn’t know how to, but now Frumpkin was very skilled at scaring it away and Caleb was very happy with him.

Caleb would take Frumpkin most places. When Frumpkin was small, it was a bad thing when Caleb didn’t take him somewhere. His human would come back shaky and scared, and Frumpkin didn’t know how to make him feel better. Now Caleb would occasionally give Frumpkin an afternoon off, and the cat would just lie out in the sun knowing that Caleb would come back fine. Maybe a little shaky, but Frumpkin knew how to fix that.

“Halo, Frumpkin,” Caleb would say when he returned. “I’ve got you a treat.” Treats were not normally a part of his human returning. Frumpkin got up and leapt up on Claeb’s shoulder. Caleb gave him a bit of salmon, the king of treats.

Frumpkin purred and nuzzled Caleb’s face. Caleb laughed which Frumpkin figured was a little bit like purring. “Ja, I love you too.” He scratched under Frumpkin’s chin. “Frumpkin, I was wondering what would think of having another human? I mean if I started dating, you wouldn’t mind that would you?”

The cat gave it some thought. Sharing Caleb with someone did not appeal to him, but if it made Caleb happy, then Frumpkin was willing to accept it. He chirped in Caleb’s ear.

“You approve of the idea? That’s good cause I saw Jester today,” Caleb said. Frumpkin liked Jester. She liked to sneak him goodies and was very good for playing with. “I asked her out on a date.” His human smiled. “And she said yes. Can you believe that, Frumpkin? She actually agreed to going out on a date with me.”

Frumpkin didn’t fully understand why his human was so surprised. Caleb was the best human and deserved to have the second best human, which according to Frumpkin’s careful examination was Jester(the third best was Luc who always appreciated it when Frumpkin knocked stuff off the table). 

Caleb took Frumpkin off his shoulder and held the cat up to his face. “The date’s tonight. What do you think? Do we have enough time for both of us to look our best tonight?” Frumpkin gave it some thought. Humans were very large so it would take a long time to get Caleb clean, but Frumpkin was up to the challenge. He gave Caleb’s nose a lick earning another smile. Taking care of a human was a big task, but one that Frumpkin was glad to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look guys, Frumpkin just loves Caleb so much. So much. And it felt appropriate to give him the epilogue.
> 
> I'd like to thank poyo for requesting this fic. It has been a lot of fun to write. And thank you guys for reading, giving kudos, and commenting.


End file.
